On Friday, more than 190 nations agreed to a text draft in Geneva, Switzerland for an agreement at the end this year on combating climate change. They delayed making hard decisions about being more specific and offering a wider range of solutions to the problem. The agreement’s draft was diluted to reflect the priority of other countries. It is expected that the agreement will be signed in Paris between November and December. It will then go into effect in 2020. Official basis of talks was adopted by representatives from the government as an 86-page long draft. The new document took one week to make and is twice as large than the one before. Christiana Figueres said she was pleased with the speed of progress in the last week. Many delegates were disappointed that the document had increased in size, despite their hopes for a more concise version. Ilze Pruse from the European Union said that they had hoped for a shorter text. Officials around the world now need to work harder to reduce the number of possible agreements to one agreement, which will be signed December. Although no agreement is binding on all countries, it’s the goal to eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions in the year 2050,. This will allow us to work toward a maximum level of emissions as soon as we can. Different priorities for advanced and emerging countries. While the advanced economies push hard to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to combat climate change, many emerging economies desire more flexibility and funding. Christiana Figueres (Executive Secretary, UN Framework on Climate Change) said that she was encouraged by “the constructive spirit and speed with which negotiators worked over the last week.” She also stated, “We now possess a formal negotiation text which includes the views and concerns from all countries. After years of broken promises and false starts, it is a significant achievement to restore ownership and trust. We have made great strides in that direction. The text now includes more points of view from countries. Ms. Figueres stated that the nations had worked hard to identify the key choices. The nations argued for their views and provided more options. Ms. Figueres stated that the text was created in complete transparency. It means that, although the text is longer now, all countries know each others’ positions. The UNFCCC secretariat will edit and translate the negotiating text into official UN languages. This will allow the UNFCCC to communicate the text with the capitals of the world in the first quarter this year. The progress achieved over the last week was appreciated by most of the UN climate conference delegates in Geneva. (Image: UNFCCC) Ms. Figueres explained: “This fulfills the internationally-accepted timetable for reaching a possible treaty because it alerts capitals to the fact that a legal instrument could be adopted in Paris. This does not make this a certainty, but it opens up the possibility. The legality of the agreement will be clarified in the latter part of the year. Negotiators will then narrow down their options to reach an agreement on its content. The process will be continued until June’s Climate Change Conference in Bonn 2015,, and two additional formal sessions in Bonn (August 31 through September 4 and October 19 bis 23).). Throughout the year, ministerial climate change meetings will be held. The meetings include the Petersburg Climate Dialogue and the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, as well as the G7/G 20 meetings. Ms. Figueres stated that these opportunities would help ensure countries have the opportunity to cooperate at multiple political levels. What is required now is vertical integration to reflect the views of heads, ministers, and negotiators on a consistent and seamless view of ambition, shared ground, and eventual success in Paris. It is unlikely that it will stop climate change. However, it would be the first time that all countries have agreed to do something together about it. The Kyoto Protocol international agreement will be replaced by it. The UN negotiations, although slow moving, saw a significant boost 2014 after the US and China announced joint pledges to reduce emissions at the Paris conference. Also, the EU and Norway set targets
